Fire door



y 1943- P. H. ROUTLEDGE 2,323,845

FIRE DOOR Filed July 29, 19 1 Arramvzr Patented July 6, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I f 2323.84; I

I FIRE noon g I I Percy'Harold Routledge, Mission, British v I Columbia, Canada Application July 29, 1941, Serial No. 404,481

'3 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in fire doors which are particularly adapted for use on steam boilers for locomotives, ships and the like where substantially constant opening and closing of the doors is required.

The objects of the invention are to provide manually operated means by which the doors may be opened by simply depressing a lever and locked in full open position, if desired, and whereby the doors may be unlocked and closed by simply depressing and relieving the pressure on said lever, and a further object is to provide means whereby motion of the vehicle or vessel equipped with the device will not release the locking means or otherwise effect the ease of operation of the door.

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the invention as fitted to the front of a. locomotive boiler.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the doors open.

Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrammatic sectional views showing respectively the doors full open but not locked and the doors locked open.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral I indicates the boiler or fire box front which is provided with an oval opening 2 indicated by dotted line in Figure 1 and in full line in Figures 2, 3 and 4.

Swingingly mounted upon pins 4 are substantially semi-circular doors 5 which are provided with intermeshing gears 6 at their upper adjacent meeting edges I for the purpose of ensuring simultaneous movement of both doors during closing.

Journalled in bearing brackets 9 and I is a horizontal rock shaft l2 which is provided with segmental gear I3 and a pair of cranks l4. The free ends of the cranks I4 are each connected to an eyed lug I projecting from the face of a door 5 by a universal linkage I6 consisting of a U-shaped shackle I1 forming an upper member, a cranked link I8 and a link I9, which is preferably a ring, and connects with the eyed lug l5. The offset in the crank link I8 is greater than half the diameter of the shaft I2 the reason for which will hereinafter appear.

Surrounding the shaft I2 is a spring 2| having one end secured to the bearing I0 and the opposite end is attached to a collar 22 which is adapted to be non-rotatably secured by any suitable means to the shaft. The spring is so tensioned torsionally between the bearing I0 and the collar 22 as to serve to suitably counterbalance the doors 5 and reduce the effort required to raise them to full open position.

'25 and is provided with an oifset apertured lug '26 adjacent its free end. A rod 28 extends through the lug 2B .and is provided above the lug with a stop 29 and below the lug with a spring 30 and a lower stop 3I. The upper end of the rod 28 terminates in a toothed rack 33 which meshes with the gear I 3, and in order to keep the rack in engagement with the gear a guard 34 consisting of a pair of rollers 35, see Figure 1, spaced between side plates 36 is rockingly mounted upon the shaft I2.

The adjustment of the spring 2| is such as to be somewhat less than sufficient to support the doors 5, the lever 24 and the rod 28 in raised position, so that reasonable effort only is required to open said doors.

If the doors are to be opened temporarily to inspect the fire or to throw in a single shovel of fuel, pressure is applied to the pedal to bring it down until sat the stokers heel touches the floor or the position shown in Figure 3. When in this position the cranks I4 are raised to a point where all the pivotal points of the linkage I6, viz. those of the shackle H, the cranked link I8 and the link I9 are in alignment between the free end of the crank and the free end of the lug I5 and lie to the right of the dotted centre line shown in Figures 3 and 4 and marked CL. Obviously as soon as pressure is relieved from the lever 24 the doors will descend to closed position.

To open the doors and lock them in open position the lever 24 is depressed to its full extent so that the cranks I4 are carried past the centre line CL with the cranked link substantially in contact with the shaft I2 and the pivotal points of the linkage I6 are disposed on the forward side of CL thus preventing the weight of the doors from turning the cranks in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figures 2, 3 and 4, thus locking the doors open.

To release the doors, it suifices to depress the lever 24 and compress the spring 30 towards the lower stop 3|, then raise the foot to allow said spring to bring the lug 26 of the lever smartly against the upper stop 29, thus imparting an upward thrust to the rod 28 and through the rack 33 giving an initial turn to the shaft I2 to carry the cranks I4 over centre when the doors will be free to descend.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In combination with a firebox front having a firing opening, a door hingedly suspended from the front to normally cover said opening, a horizontal shaft above the door, said horizontal shaft A pedal or lever 24 is fulcrumed from abearing 5 having a crank, a manually operable lever for rocking the shaft, a jointed connection extending downwardly between the shaft and the door including an offset member, said ofiset member being adapted to straddle the shaft and dispose the axis of said connection beyond a given centre and lock the door in open position when the shaft is rocked to a predetermined position, and means associated with the lever and the shaft for im parting a reverse rocking movement to the shaft in response to quick relief of pressure on the lever.

2. In combination with a firebox front having a firing opening, a door hingedly suspended from the front to normally cover said opening, a hori zontal shaft above the door, said horizontal shaft having a crank, a manually operable lever for rocking the shaft, a jointed connection extending downwardly between the shaft and the door including an offset member, said ofiset member being adapted to straddle the shaft and dispose the axis of said connection beyond a given centre and lock the door in open position when the shaft is rocked to a predetermined position,

and means associated with the lever and the shaft for imparting a reverse rocking movement to the shaft in response to quick relief of pressure on the lever, said means including a rod between the shaft and the lever, said lever having an aperture through which one end of the rod extends, said rod having stops above and below the aperture and a spring between the lever and the lower stop.

3. In combination with a firebox front having a firing opening, a hinge pin extending from said front, a door suspended from the hinge pin adapted to normally cover said opening, a shaft extending horizontally across the front above the door parallel to the plane of said door, a flexible connection between the shaft and the door, a lever for rocking the shaft to raise the door to open position, and means associated with the flexible connection for holding the door in raised position.

PERCY HAROLD ROUTLEDGE. 

